The head of Japan's nuclear regulatory body says all nuclear facilities, not only power plants, must meet new safety standards to begin operation.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority plans to draw up new safety standards for nuclear power plants by July and screen applications from power companies to restart such plants.

Authority Chairman Shunichi Tanaka said on Wednesday that other nuclear facilities, such as spent-fuel reprocessing plants and test reactors, must also meet new safety standards, to be drawn up by December. [link to www3.nhk.or.jp] .

TOKYO — Since the Great Tohoku Earthquake of March 2011, scientists have been anxiously watching the massive volcano known as Mt Fuji for signs of activity. In September of last year, a report was released stating that Mt Fuji’s magma chamber pressure had risen to a worrisome 1.6 megapascals, which is estimated to be higher than when it last erupted. [link to www.japantoday.com] .

Japan's nuclear regulatory authority chief said Wednesday it would be difficult to finish safety assessments on all of the country's commercial reactors in three years, as aimed by the new government led by the Liberal Democratic Party.

Nuclear power plant operators are expected to apply for restart of their reactors once the Nuclear Regulation Authority, an organization launched in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis, compiles new safety standards by July. [link to english.kyodonews.jp] .

SOUTH TEXAS EVENT REPORT: UNUSUAL EVENT DECLARED DUE TO MAIN TRANSFORMER FIRE

An Unusual Event was declared based on EAL HU-2 - Fire or explosion in protected area or switchyard which affects normal plant operations.

At 1655 CST, South Texas Unit 2 declared an Unusual Event due to a main transformer fire. Unit 2 tripped from 100% power and is currently at 0% power in Mode 3. The transformer fire is out. In addition to the loss of the main transformer, several safety related electrical busses and non-safety electrical busses lost offsite power. The appropriate emergency diesel generators started and powered the safety related busses. Unit 2 is currently stable and on natural circulation due to the loss of power to the reactor coolant pumps. Auxiliary feedwater is functioning as required and decay heat is being removed through the steam generator atmospheric relief valves. Unit 1 was unaffected by the event. [link to www.nucpros.com] .

Ex-Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power plant in Haddam to become wildlife refuge

HADDAM — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday that it has acquired a 38-acre piece of land owned by the operator of the former Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power plant for $900,000.

The land will become part of the Salmon River Division of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. With the acquisition of a piece of the Connecticut Yankee property, the Salmon River Division now includes 416 acres of land in the state, said Andrew French, a Massachusetts-based project leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. [link to www.nhregister.com] .

The 1,080 MW reactor unit 1 at China's Ningde nuclear plant in Fujian province sent power to the grid for the first time December 28, 2012.The event marks the transition of the plant from the construction to the commissioning phase. Plant operator China Guangdong Nuclear Power Co. will conduct further tests before the reactors enters full commercial operation, including a 168-hour run at full output.The reactor is the first of four planned CPR-1000s planned for the site, all of which are expected to be fully operational by the end of 2015. Construction on units 1 and 2 started in 2008, and on units 3 and 4 in 2010. [link to www.elp.com] .

The Energy Department said it expects federal approval for the shipments soon.

A newspaper report says there would be 403 canisters each containing 2.6 kilograms of uranium. Each would have a high level of radiation but there would be a shield on the containers to reduce the radiation in half.

The materials would be buried at 40 feet or more at the location formerly called the Nevada Test Site about 65 miles from Las Vegas.

In September the nonprofit Institute for Policy Studies said the Department of Energy plans to waive safety requirements to dispose of uranium 233 by putting it in a landfill.

It said the federal agency has failed so far to account for all uranium and that the material "is stored in safe facilities or safely dispose of." The study said that if as little as 19 pounds of uranium 233 fell into the wrong hands, it could make an explosion that could destroy all of downtown Washington, D.C., or a similar-size city.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday vacated part of a district court ruling involving an exemption to fire safety rules at the Indian Point 3 plant in the New York City suburbs. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., chief prosecuting attorney for Riverkeeper, called it "a turning point" that would "both protect and involve the public in key NRC health and safety decisions."

Brodsky, who argued the case himself, said the ruling "is the first big crack in the secret facade the NRC has placed over its decisions. ... There are literally thousands of these exemptions that have been issued in secret nationwide."

He said exemptions that might legally be implemented without public participation could include issues of plant security.

What I question is the eagerness to get a 20 year renewal granted, 17 years before the current one expires..Is it in hopes of avoiding future requirements, public safety enhancements.. which could soon be imposed..?I think so..This seems to be a trend.If public safety were a part of their concern, they would not do this...

Seabrook Station’s operating license will expire March, 15, 2030. NextEra contacted the NRC two years ago seeking to renew the license for the nuclear power plant for another 20 years, through 2050.

“I’ve increasingly had the suspicion that our justice system is sometimes lacking in common sense concern for the public interest when it comes to corporate and governmental prerogatives,” SAPL Executive Director Doug Bogen said in a prepared statement, responding to the latest court decision. “This ruling appears to confirm that suspicion. “NRC intransigence in addition to state government inaction has practically guaranteed that the public will have no voice when it comes to a key future energy policy decision — the relicensing of our local nuclear plant,” Bogen concluded.

Two other citizen groups, Friends of the Coast and the New England Coalition, are also challenging the relicensing of Seabrook Station. Hearings are still pending on the contentions they have filed.

Ex-Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power plant in Haddam to become wildlife refuge

HADDAM — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday that it has acquired a 38-acre piece of land owned by the operator of the former Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power plant for $900,000.

The land will become part of the Salmon River Division of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. With the acquisition of a piece of the Connecticut Yankee property, the Salmon River Division now includes 416 acres of land in the state, said Andrew French, a Massachusetts-based project leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. [link to www.nhregister.com] .

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 30558272

$23,684.21 per acre...

Not exactly a steal for possibly contaminated land...I think they should have gone for a better deal than that.Must be some really good fishin'.

Regular readers of Retraction Watch, a watchdog site run by two medical reporters, got the news along with a story about the blog’s anonymous editor, who has since come forward and identified himself as Professor Paul Brookes, a researcher at the University of Rochester. Operated as a crowdsourced reference site much like Wikipedia, Science Fraud, in its six months of operation, documented egregiously suspicious research results published in over 300 peer reviewed publications. Many were subsequently retracted, including a paper by an author whose lawyer sent Science Fraud a cease and desist letter.

And if you think science fraud only impacts the scientific literature, consider the horrendous case of Dr. Scott Reuben, formerly chief of the acute pain service at Baystate Medical Center in Massachusetts. He was sentenced to prison for falsifying research data purportedly demonstrating the efficacy of analgesic medications sold by Pfizer, Merck, and Wyeth that were published in dozens of journals before his fabrications were uncovered. And while Reuben is through as a scientist the problem lingers on, as his research papers were among the most heavily cited in the field.

GLP's best Fuku thread: Thread: *** Fukushima *** and other nuclear-----updates and linkstwitter: #citizenperth“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on it, I would use the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I knew the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”- Albert Einstein

Professor: Cesium in wild mushrooms not caused by Fukushima accidentCesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 years, was detected at a level of 120 becquerels, exceeding the government-mandated safe level of 100 becquerels per kilogram. But no cesium-134, which has a half-life of two years, was found in the mushrooms.

Similarly, in “sakura shimeji” mushrooms from the city of Aomori, cesium-137 was measured in late October at 107 becquerels, while almost no cesium-134 was found.

"The fact that no cesium-134 has been detected proves that the contamination happened prior to the Fukushima nuclear accident,’’ Muramatsu, 62, said. “It is from nuclear weapons tests conducted by the Soviet Union and China from the late 1940s to the late 1960s, and from the Chernobyl accident in 1986."

In the 1990s, after the Chernobyl disaster, Muramatsu and his research team studied the effects on wild mushrooms in Japan. They found radioactive cesium exceeding 100 becquerels, mainly in northern Japan.

Some of the mushrooms topped 1,000 becquerels, and when dried, some had readings that were over 10,000 becquerels.

Professor: Cesium in wild mushrooms not caused by Fukushima accidentCesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 years, was detected at a level of 120 becquerels, exceeding the government-mandated safe level of 100 becquerels per kilogram. But no cesium-134, which has a half-life of two years, was found in the mushrooms.

Similarly, in “sakura shimeji” mushrooms from the city of Aomori, cesium-137 was measured in late October at 107 becquerels, while almost no cesium-134 was found.

"The fact that no cesium-134 has been detected proves that the contamination happened prior to the Fukushima nuclear accident,’’ Muramatsu, 62, said. “It is from nuclear weapons tests conducted by the Soviet Union and China from the late 1940s to the late 1960s, and from the Chernobyl accident in 1986."

In the 1990s, after the Chernobyl disaster, Muramatsu and his research team studied the effects on wild mushrooms in Japan. They found radioactive cesium exceeding 100 becquerels, mainly in northern Japan.

Some of the mushrooms topped 1,000 becquerels, and when dried, some had readings that were over 10,000 becquerels.

Inoue said the government will clamp down on contractors cleaning up radioactive material around the ruined Fukushima nuclear plant.

The Environment Ministry hired the nation’s leading contractors to cleanse towns and villages near the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi power plant, starting with four relatively uncontaminated areas.

But the Asahi Shimbun reported last week that dirty soil, leaves and water have been dumped directly into rivers. The paper cited workers as saying they were told to sweep only around radiation monitoring sites. [link to www.japantoday.com] .

Reprocessed nuclear waste to arrive in Japan from Britain in late Feb.

Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. said Thursday that 28 canisters of high-level radioactive waste produced through the reprocessing of spent Japanese nuclear fuel in Britain will arrive in Japan in the latter half of February.

The Pacific Grebe transport ship carrying the waste left the port of Barrow on Wednesday and will travel to Japan via the Panama Canal, Japan Nuclear Fuel said. [link to english.kyodonews.jp] .

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday that it intends to accept compensation claims over the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster beyond the three-year legal time limit for seeking compensation.

"We do not intend at all to say 'that's it' after three years...We hope not to create concerns among the people affected," the utility's President Naomi Hirose told Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato in Fukushima Prefecture, adding that his company is now discussing in detail the legal matters concerning the issue. [link to english.kyodonews.jp] .